Battle of Breslau 1757 : SYW

Leaving the Ogres to feast for a while we return to the Seven Years War. The Battle of Breslau 22nd November 1757. Earlier in the month Frederick had defeated the combined French and Austrian army at Rossbach. But whilst he was moving west the Austrians had started to retake Silesia, moving at the end of the month to take Breslau hoping to achieve this before the Prussians could combine their armies in defence. The duke of Brunswick-Bevern was covering Breslau but with only around 28,000 Prussians. The Austrians under the Prince of Loraine and Von Daun sought to combine their forces. They were then further supported by Nadasdy bringing their combined force to between 60-80,000.

The Prussians held a strong position SW of Breslau protected on two sides by the Rivers Oder and Lohe, the later being somewhat smaller. The Prussians had dug in a pretty strong position with many entrenchments, a series of abatis blocking the northern most section of the lohe and had dismantled several bridges. Historically Nadasdy took his corps round to the south, the Prussians under Von Zieten held them off on high ground and this flank attack then came to a stand still. For the purposes of our battle the. We have excluded this section of the fighting. The main Austrian assault was directly across the Lohe river, they had built a number of pontoon bridges. The Prussians held a series of fortified villages where much of the fighting took place. In the end the Prussians held the Austrians off till darkness before pulling back in the face of very superior numbers and the following day pulling out of Breslau all together.

My interpretation of the battlefield some licence but the main elements in place. The Austrians broadly attack in three blocks, infantry followed by cavalry. They have extensive artillery support to help them do this. For objectives the Austrians must try and capture the five villages running from Kosel to Grabischen. We allowed Von Zieten to filter a few troops into the battle from the high ground. Historically the Austrians pounded the defences for several hours before the attack, given our constraints it became clear this wasn’t having the desired effect and the Prussian artillery would be too dominating, so we implemented a rule where by Prussian cannons would have to roll to see if they ran out of ammo during the battle this worked well as the prussian artillery gradually filtered away back to Breslau. One final quirk is using Honours of war we rolled for each brigade commander. Almost every Austrian commander rolled dithering and all,st every Prussian ordered inspiring ! So there was a serious risk the Prussians might go charging across the river on the attack !

The Austrian left wing attack Prussian grenadiers through the village of Pilsnitz

A view down the battlefield the bridge at Pont de Pelz ?can be seen heavily defended beyond that the Austrians are crossing a pontoon bridge in numbers. historically I have read that the Prussian orders were to let the Austrians cross and then counter attack ! Prussian cavalry reserve can be seen on the left holding back for now

The Austrian reserve corps cavalry advances towards Grabischen, Prussians cavalry can be seen sweeping around the village, a significant combat took place ( which I forgot to photo) with both sides cavalry forced to withdraw from the battle exhausted/beaten.

Von Zieten sends some infantry to hold the crossing.

The defenders of Klein Mochbern have been temporarily driven back where they do eventually regroup

To the north the Pilsnitz crossing is proving too tough and the Austrians decide to occupy the village and fire long range cross the river.

The leading Austrians infantry is across the river and fighting and now the Austrian cavalry (lots and lots of it) is moving to the advance

Seeing the risk the Prussian cavalry edges forward seen here on the right behind the villages

Fighting continues in the south but the Austrians have the numbers in any fight in the open

The Prussians pull back to the village

Carnage in the centre, a massed cavalry battle in the foreground, more Austrian cavalry arising in the centre and further back move Austrian cavalry being held back on the Pont de Pelz. Hot work everywhere !

Having won the intital combat the Prussian cavalry is just able to regroup back behind the villages before being destroyed by Austrian artillery. The Prussians have very little in reserve now.

Fighting to the last at Grabischen but the village is about to fall.

Much of the Austrian cavalry has been driven back over the river where it is regrouping, but the Prussian infantry is only just clinging onto the villages at the moment 

The crossing at Pilsnitz has proved too tough for the Austrians to force, where almost the whole Austrian right wing has been tied up

But in the end numbers begin to count as the Prussians held villages are gradually surrounded 

In the end given the objectives we felt a draw was right, the technically both side were holding two villages each with. Third unoccupied but about to be taken by the Austrians.

We both really enjoyed the battle, given the relatively unequal sides it provided a great battle with plenty of twists and turns. The balance was almost perfect, anymore Prussians and the crossings wouldnt have been possible any less and the Austrians would have come galloping across. Interestingly the Austrians did suffer from their dithering command but by virtue of the overall commander being inspiring this allowed re-rolls without this the Prussians may never have gotten off the start line.

Hard not to enjoy this one and wargaming pretty much at its best 👍

Thanks for taking the time to check out my activity in the dungeon

Matt ❤️

Battle of Reichenberg 1757 : SYW

It has been a while since we played with our SYW collections, we have fought the majority of the larger Prussian vs Austrian battles so we are now exploring some of the smaller battles. The battle of Reinchenberg on the 21st April 1757 was part of the Third Silesian War. The battle involved a corps or so on each side, the Prussians commanded by Marshal Von Bevern and the Austrians were under Count Konigsegg.

The two armies were marching somewhat in parallel when the Austrian took up a defensive position close to the town of Reinchenberg, but when they came under serious pressure they chose to pull back giving the victory to Bevern who captured a significant amount of Austrian supplies.

A couple of useful map from the web

Martin had set up the battle, the Austrians holding the two emplacements on the higher ground. The objectives for the Prussians are to take the high ground and if possible cut the road and thus trapping the Austrian army.

The Prussian left wing prepares to assault the high ground

Both forces have their centre dominated by cavalry, the Prussians seek to block any Austrians crossing the river

On the Prussian left wing they are assaulting the earthworks on the high ground, the Prussians have split their cavalry who have then been able to turn the earthworks and support the assault

On their left the Prussians have a tougher job, fighting up hill into defensible earthworks !

The rest of the Prussian cavalry has been thrown back from the river, but luckily reserves have arrived to strengthen their centre

After a hard fight the Prussians have forced the earthworks on the left, but they don’t have enough strength to push down the hill to the villages on the road

The Prussian cavalry has regrouped in the centre and their reserve infantry brigade prepares to cross the river and drive the Austrian cavalry away

On the Prussian right, the earthworks have been taken but at significant cost and when the Austrian reserves arrive they can’t hold onto the objective

Prussian reserves crossing the river

They drive the Austrian cavalry gradually back towards the road

The position at the end of the battle the Prussians have snatched a victory having taken and held one earthwork and cut the road. The Austrians have retaken the second earthworks, with the Prussian right wing pulling back to a defensive position.

A great battle and it reminded us how much we enjoy these SYW battles and we are now searching out some more for the future 👍

Also managed a bit of painting this week completing some KGL Hussars for my British peninsular army

This gives me two units of Hussars for the British which is enough, I certainly don’t enjoy painting Hussars way too much lace and bits. These will have to do and are ok if you don’t look too closely.

That’s it for now thanks for checking in this week

Matt ❤️

The Battle of Torgau 1760 : SYW

Finally feeling well enough to get a battle in so Martin came over for a run out with our SYW collection. Believe it or not we are at the end of my SYW scenario book with the Battle of Torgau. (Not Torbay as the spellchecker keeps wanted to change it to !) the battle took place on the 3 November 1760. After the battle of Liegnitz the Prussians and Austrians had manoeuvred around Silesia for a couple of months. Eventually Fredrick closed on the Austrians under the redoubtable Daun close to the Fortress city of Torgau.

The Austrian main army was on the plateau in a strong defensive position with artillery support from around the City itself. Rather than a frontal assault Fredrick once again split his army taking about half of his force through the forests to assault the Austrians from the rear. The Austrians  got wind of this and were able to adjust their position to be attacked from both sides.

Historically it was a very tough fight and although the Prussians eventually forced the Austrians to retire it cost Frederick over a third of his army and I believe he would never again assault a prepared Austrian position.

As usual a map of the battlefield from the internet, the red area roughly our battlefield

Converted to a 8x5 table. The Prussians to the right although on the table will have a random delayed arrival as they march through the woods to the battlefield. A couple of other adjustments, the Austrians have a battery of heavy artillery outside Torgau and we agreed these could fire without actually being able to see targets. The stream/river a key feature of the battle field would force a test for each regiment looking to cross as they search for less marshy areas to cross.

Lacy’s corps. advance to the sound of the guns from their positions around Torgau

Prussian Cavalry move through Siptiz (spelt several different ways) to hold the bridge 

These are countered by General Zeschwitz cavalry division

The Prussian cavalry have arrived to the north through Weslau.

The rest of the Austrian surge forward but there is still no sign of the Prussians from the north. I should mention here that the largest Division under General Buelow rolled a six first turn and immediately arrived on the battle field around Weslau. They then managed to roll 1’s three turns in a row and failed to activate. This was a major disadvantage for the Prussians.

The Prussian to the south attempt to cross the river and open fire on the main Austrian army, Prussian Hussars can be seen in the distance cross by the bridge

With the delayed piecemeal arrival of the Prussian infantry from the north, the hot headed Prussian cavalry who have charged and scattered the Austrian cavalry in the centre, find themselves caught isolated beyond the village of Weslau

They are forced to retreat, past the Prussian infantry who just stand immobile !!!!!!!!

I forgot to take many photos at the west end of the battlefield where some Prussians have now arrived these chatty the defending Austrians from both sides and start to clear that end of the plateau.

Lacy’s Corps is now starting to deploy to block the narrow gap at this end of the plateau 

A better shot of the situation to the west, although the Prussian cavalry has been forced back this end of the plateau has been nearly cleared

Finally General Buelow gets his division moving and these are supported by Grenadiers under General Markgraf and Frederick himself these are able to retake the village of Weslau

But with the Prussian cavalry blown, the Austrians have managed to reform their cavalry on the plateau and Lacy’s Corps is now in position

The Prussians have taken about half of the plateau but their attack is stalled. In the very top right of this picture you can see General Huelsen’s Division which repeatedly failed to arrive through the woods, in the end failing to roll a 2 !

And then catastrophe Buelow’s Division falls below half strength and collapses leaving the village of Weslau in Austrian hands again

At this point it was clear it was an Austrian victory, the Prussians still have forces on the table but are not in a position to force the Austrians to withdraw. The Austrians have maintained their cavalry and have a strong defensive position across the narrow part of the plateau. A really splendid battle which was very closely fought, had it not been for the delayed arrival of the Prussian infantry and ultimately the collapse of Buelow’s division it might have been a different result.

As an aside, those very eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed this is the first run out for a new base cloth. I picked up two cloths from Dunelm when they had a sale and have stitched them together prior to some spraying with acrylic cans. This gives me a single much larger cloth which can also be used to cover my 12x6 table when we play in the garden. It is also slightly lighter in colour which is better for the photos. The key thing is it makes arrangement of hills easier.

As the battlefield was set up the evening before I took the opportunity to see what the epic ECW figures looked like on what is technically 10mm terrain

Very happy with this look, so other than possibly picking up a handful of 10mm buildings appropriate to ECW I don’t need anything different, my 15mm hedges should work fine as well.

Thanks as always for checking by 🙂

Matt